Stone Mountain is considering changes, Kasim Reed rumors, new podcast alert, and other news
The Update 5/24
Welcome to my freemium newsletter by me, King Williams. A documentary filmmaker, journalist, podcast host, and author based in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a newsletter covering the hidden connections of Atlanta to everything else.
Stone Mountain is finally considering some changes
Yesterday, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association announced changes may be coming to the park.
These changes come after a year of racial reckoning related to the Black Lives Matter movement, series of attacks on Confederate monuments, and addressing racial propaganda (such as myths of the Confederacy) in American history. While Stone Mountain Park itself had two incidents very problematic happen on and near park grounds, which included an armed militia protest in July as well as a standoff between white supremacists versus anti-racist activists at the park in August. As a result, Stone Mountain Memorial Association appointed its first African American leader, Reverend Abraham Mosley of Athens (appointed by Gov Kemp no less), to lead the organization. since it was founded by members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Some of these changes include:
1) Recontextualizing the park’s history, especially the 190-foot statue on the mountain
2) Removing the prominent confederate flags from the base of the mountain,
3) Changing the logo of the park, and
4) The creation of a new museum is being planned to tell the complete history of the mountain, which purposely omitted African American history while also promoting white supremacist propaganda. And maybe changing the street names of former Confederate members, maybe.
This also brings into conversation the role of Shermantown, the African American establishment which came into being during the Civil War. Shermantown residents are hoping to be included in this correction of the history of Stone Mountain, and I even had the opportunity to speak for a little to 11 Alive news on it.
This comes as the park formally announced that it is losing money to the tune of $27 million dollars, a 56% year-over-year drop due to the combination of the pandemic and shunning over the park due to its connections to white supremacy. This comes as the parks managing operating organization since 1998, Silver Dollar City (formerly Herschend Entertainment) has stated in late 2020 that they will not continue with the operations of the park in July of 2022, despite having a 35-year property management agreement as stated in this 2018 AJC article. This comes alongside rumors that Marriott may also be departing the operation of its Evergreen resort hotel that it operates on the property.
To get a better history of Stone Mountain, I suggest you read my two pieces from January on Stone Mountain Park and the history of the Klu Klux Klan:
The History of Stone Mountain and the KKK - Part One
The History of Stone Mountain and the KKK Part Two
The first Memorial Day, Confederate women, and the erasure of Black History
Also, check out the following articles:
The Tucker Observer - There’s a lot of love in the community of Shermantown
The New York Times - Stone Mountain: The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World
Smithsonian Magazine - What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial?
The Washington Post - Stone Mountain: The ugly past — and fraught future — of the biggest Confederate monument
And as a companion piece, I would suggest checking out my summer 2020 podcast on Confederate monuments with historian Kevin Levin. This interview is on YouTube but is also available on Apple Podcasts, also Spotify, and SoundCloud as well.
You can also follow Kevin on Twitter at @KevinLevin.
For even more backstory on Stone Mountain, I suggest the great series Archive Atlanta Podcast with these episodes in particular:
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Rumor is Kasim Reed will be announcing he’s running soon
The rumors are pointing toward former mayor Kasim Reed announcing that he will be running for mayor on June 10th. June 10th is his birthday and photos of invitations to his birthday surfaced with a phoenix design, leading many insiders to believe this is the day he announces his campaign. Reed for the last few weeks has been teasing at what looks like a return, he’s done a two-part interview with Channel 2 WSBtv in addition to developing Twitter fingers.
Fulton County DA Fani Willis
Fulton County DA Fani Willis says that the DA’s office needs more resources to prosecute cases. Cases including the former president of the US, Garrett Rolfe, and the officers who were fired by KLB last summer. Willis’s office is tasked with charging Rolfe as well as two other police killings you may not have heard of Jamarion Robinson, who was shot 76 times by East Point Police in 2016, and Deaundre Phillips. Not to mention this whole potential prosecution of former US President, Donald Trump. Willis’s office is now in a situation where she must decide to actually charge police which would completely tarnish her relationship with law enforcement, or decide to not punish officers, which will tarnish her relationships with some citizens and activists. Odds are she backs the blue.
Fani Willis is now claiming that most of the violence is coming from gangs, which is counter to the random violence as dictated by police reports. This comes as Willis herself has used the spike in crime in Atlanta as a way to fall back into the common support the police tropes, something she’s indicated in a May 18th Facebook post.
I was on a (virtual) panel on Atlanta’s public housing with Akira Drake Rodriguez, the author of The Politics of Public Housing
I was a part of a virtual panel with Akira Drake Rodriguez, the author of the recently released book Diverging Space for Deviance: The Politics of Atlanta’s Public Housing. The event was hosted by Atlanta journalist Stephanie Stokes of 90.1 WABE as well as featuring Nedra Deadwyler of Civil Bikes.
We talked about the history of public housing and the ethos undergirding the philosophy of her book. We also talk about gentrification and the connection of the end of public housing to the current-day Atlanta.
New Podcast Alert: Law professor and Supreme Court expert Jim Oleski
In today’s interview, I spoke to law professor and Supreme Court expert Jim Oleske of the Lewis and Clark School of Law. In this interview, we talk about a recent religious liberty case regarding covid-19, which has an impact on the entire US, as well as Additionally, we talk about the recent attacks on voting rights, court-packing /court stacking, the types of law, and the rule of first nations.
I suggest that you also read my article from last fall entitled: New Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the end of American democracy as we know itas a companion piece to this interview.
This interview is also here on Substack but is also available on Apple Podcasts, also Spotify, and SoundCloud as well.
You can also follow Jim on Twitter at @JimOleske.
Red Clay News
Brian Kemp has officially announced that he will run again for office.
Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan will not run for re-election.
Nearly 34% of all gas stations in the metro area are still without gas.
Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill bans ink pens at all Clayton County jails.
The Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant is delayed again until late 2022, it was originally scheduled to open in 2016.
Underground Atlanta is getting a food hall.
A Colorado company has purchased a Kennesaw apartment complex for $65m.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium will still be offering vaccinations for those who want them. Georgia ranks at the bottom of national vaccination rates.
Senators Warnock and Ossoff tout getting $84m in additional funding for Georgia HBCUs.
MARTA giving workers a one-time pandemic bonus of $3,500.
The city of Atlanta will be installing 10,000 new street lights for public safety.
New MARTA rail cars will be coming to Atlanta in two years.
Chick-fil-A donates to Morris Brown $500,000 after the college gained back its accreditation after a 20-year battle.
Governor Kemp signed into law 3 weeks of paid parental leave for state employees and public school system employees across the state.
National News
January 6th commission is likely to have very little Senate support from Republicans as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is seeking to bring this to a vote this week.
The first monthly payments for the Child Tax Credit begin July 15th.
Mark McCloskey, the St. Louis man who wielded an automatic weapon at protestors last summer is running for US Senate.
A North Carolina judge attempted to run over a BLM protestor with his car.
Oklahoma has passed a bill to give immunity to people who run over and kill protesters, Florida also passed one recently.
Ex-Republican Governor Charlie Christ is running now as a Democrat in FL.
Arkansas man convicted and executed over a 1993 murder is finally acquitted after DNA evidence proves he did not commit the crime.
Florida Republicans believe they may have miscalculated on voting laws regarding the 2020 election. Despite these more Republican-led initiatives to suppress the vote continue.
It’s not a HIPAA violation for an employer to ask about your covid-19 vaccination status.
International News
Taiwan, a world leader is now facing a Covid outbreak.
Peru is also under continuous political protests and social unrest as its presidential election season continues. This comes as 16 people have been killed in a wave of politically motivated violence.
Shadiq Khan wins re-election in London as Night Mayor.